This invention relates generally to outside spare tire carriers and more specifically to an outside spare tire carrier which allows the spare tire carrier to swing away from the tailgate of a vehicle and afterwards allows the spare tire to be lowered to ground level to facilitate removal of the tire.
Spare tire carriers are often mounted on the rear of a "Tracker" type vehicle so the spare tire does not infringe upon the space available within the vehicle for carrying cargo and/or passengers. However, if the vehicle is equipped with a tailgate or some other type of rear closure assembly such as a door, a rear mounted tire carrier can interfere with the operation of the closure assembly.
To overcome this difficulty, spare tire carriers are at times mounted on a pivotable frame to allow the carrier to be swung away from the rear closure assembly. Such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,834 issued to Raywood C. Weiler on Apr. 4, 1989. This patent discloses a rear bumper mounted spare tire carrier which is mounted on a side corner of the bumper by a first mounting bracket and is mounted to the tailgate by a second mounting bracket. An arm, rotatably mounted to the first mounting bracket, is pivotal between a position adjacent the tailgate and a position located outwardly from the vehicle. When the arm is spaced away from the vehicle, the tailgate may be opened or closed without interference from the spare tire carrier. A latching mechanism selectively latches the arm to the second mounting bracket on the tailgate when the latter is closed to secure the spare tire carrier during operation of the vehicle.
Another difficulty with spare tire carriers mounted on the rear of vehicle is the requirement for lifting the tire off of the tire carrier or having to lift the tire onto the tire carrier. U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,814 issued to Nick A. Baldi on Jul. 9, 1974 discloses a bumper mounted spare tire carrier which addresses this difficulty. In this case, the spare tire carrier comprises a mounting bracket bolted to a rear bumper of a vehicle and the tire is attached to a rigid arm pivotally mounted at one end the bracket. The arm extends beyond the attachment point of the tire and a handle is mounted at a distal end of the arm so that the tire can be lowered by grasping the handle, unlatching a latch and pivoting the arm and tire downwardly to the ground for easy removal of the tire.
Although the Baldi patent provides a tire carrier which allows operation of the rear closure assembly without interference and also permits the tire to swing downwardly to make mounting and removing the spare tire less burdensome, it is often desirable to be able to swing the spare tire to the ground for easy removal and also not be limited to having to swing the tire downwardly and afterwards upwardly every time one wishes to use the tailgate or other rear closure assembly. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a spare tire carrier which alleviates this problem.
Other patents relating to tire carriers which facilitate removal of a spare tire are Jones U.S. Pat. No. 4,561,575 issued on Dec. 31, 1985, Salmon et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,518 issued on Jul. 15, 1984, and Franklin U.S. Pat. No. 2,063,598 issued on Dec. 8, 1936.